ERICKA MELLON, Copyright 2010 Houston Chronicle |
June 28, 2010

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AUSTIN — A Travis County judge ruled today that Texas public schools are required to give students truthful grades on class assignments and on their report cards under a 2009 state law that 11 school districts were challenging in court.

The school districts — most of them in Harris County - argued that the law applied only to grades on assignments, noting that the statute didn't specifically mention report cards, semester grades, or six- or nine-week averages.

But state District Judge Gisela Triana-Doyal ruled that the statute is "not ambiguous" and clearly means districts cannot require teachers to give students grades they did not earn. The bill's author, Sen. Jane Nelson, R-Flower Mound, has said she intended it to apply to all grades.

Richard Morris, the attorney for the school districts, said he would ask his clients whether they wanted to appeal the decision or to try to lobby for a change in the next Legislative session.

The districts argued that their policies prohibiting teachers from awarding grades lower than a certain number - typically a 50 - helped keep students from getting discouraged and dropping out of school.

Without the policy, Clear Creek ISD Superintendent Greg Smith, said, "I think you close the light at the end of the tunnel for some students."

But the Texas chapter of the American Federation of Teachers, which intervened in the case on the side of the state, countered that the minimum failing grading polices were dishonest and didn't prepare students for college or the workforce.